Tips for Interface Coordination in the Planning of Black Utilities
The planning and implementation of black utilities systems has a significant influence on the operation of manufacturing plants. However, when planning such supply systems of pharmaceutical plants, the coordination of interfaces between utility producers and utility consumers is often underestimated.
The significance of the planning and installation of systems for the supply of the so-called black utilities, utilities that are not in contact with the product (e. g. heating steam, control air, cooling medium) is often neglected. The reasons are that these systems of utilities are not qualified according to the Good Manufacturing Practice Guidelines, but “only” have to be planned and constructed according to the Good Engineering Practice. But the planning and construction of black utility systems influence significantly the later operation of manufacturing plants. If e.g. black utilities are not available in the required quantity and quality, process plants as well as clean utility facilities can only be operated with partial capacity or not at all. In many cases the planned production capacities are not reached and time-consuming and costly retrofitting is required.
An important aspect when planning utilities is the coordination of interfaces between the utility producers, the distribution systems and the utility consumers. All existing interfaces must be determined and carefully coordinated. Here it has to be considered that different technical units produce certain utilities themselves (e. g. pressure air through the black utility planner or cooling medium through HVAC) and put them at disposal to other technical units.
Potential interfaces exist:
The technical units Logistics and EMSR technology have to rely on the reliable supply of black utilities. This refers above all to control air, but also technical gases such as nitrogen and carbon dioxide, which can be required here, e.g. for the control of the air quality in storage spaces. The planning scope of the planning partners and the associated interfaces must, if possible already in the phase of a conceptual design of a project, be clearly defined and adequately documented together with all planners involved and the subsequent plant operator. This ensures that all interfaces are considered during further planning.
In the further planning process of a project (basic planning), the utility qualities and quantities must be carefully coordinated between all planners. The utility planner compiles the information of the individual consumers in a list. The safety-relevant parameters, such as maximum pressure and temperature of the individual utilities, must also be considered. The flow of information must always be bidirectional. That is, the utility producer needs the information about the utility from the consumer in order to do the capacity planning. It may be necessary to expand or rebuild a plant. The consumer, on the other hand, needs to be informed about the utility quality as provided by the producer. This information should be included in the design of process plants, clean utility generators and HVAC systems. If the qualities offered do not match the required qualities of the utilities and if adaptation is not possible on the consumer side, appropriate measures must be taken into account on the utility planning side. Such measures can be e. g. pressure reduction and cooling of heating steam or additional filtration and drying of compressed air. For wastewater, the disposal of which is often also part of the black utility planning, additional pre-treatment, such as neutralization, may be necessary. Thereafter, the wastewater can be discharged for further treatment in the central collection network at the site.
Since additional measures are usually associated with additional costs, this requires a detailed coordination between the planners. Only in this way can efficient and cost-effective solutions be found. The coordinated data must be available to all planning partners at the end of the basic planning.
At the beginning of the detailed planning, the interfaces are coordinated at the level of pipeline planning between the planning partners and documented in the Pipe and Instrument Diagram (R & I). This includes the specification of the nominal diameter and material of the pipeline, the pipe class and the design of the transition points. Here also e. g. a change in the pipe class, which can occur at the transition from the technology area to the clean room area, must be accounted for by planning and installing suitable transition pieces.
Parallel to the above-mentioned planning services, an inter-trade schedule must be created and maintained at an early stage. This ensures that the utilities are available to consumers at the time they are needed for commissioning or preparation of the commissioning. In the event that new generating facilities need to be procured and installed, the time between planning and provision of the utilities is often very long. This should be taken into account properly at the beginning of the planning.
The exact definition and careful planning of all shown interfaces in black utility planning are very important in all projects. Sound planning of the interfaces shown must be the focus of planning services. Due to the extensive experience in the areas of plant design, the use of a competent expert in the implementation of projects makes sense. This is the only way to ensure a smooth design process and a timely, successful commissioning of the designed plants.
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